It's the small things in life that can drive you loco on any
given day, isn't it? (yes, I see heads nodding!). Like the
batteries dying in your garage door opener in the middle of the
mother of all rainstorms. Or the birdfeeder that makes a mess on
the back patio. Or the leaky bathroom faucet.
But it's also the small things in life that seem to make it all
worthwhile. A hug from a child, making a new friend, a beautiful
sunset, getting something on sale, hearing from a far away loved
one.
It's a normal tendency to think that life is made or broken by
the BIG things in life. It's easy to sit around and complain
about how life sucks, and wait for the knight (or princess) to
show up, or the magic pill, or the lottery win that will make
life better.
But the truth is (drum roll, please) -- life is made up of very
small steps.
Think of all the small steps in your own daily life. Like how
many individual steps it takes just to get dressed in the
morning (turn off alarm, get up, turn on lights, turn on shower,
etc). Or the many small steps to prepare dinner. You get the
idea -- seconds turn into minutes, into hours, into days, into a
lifetime.
Still not convinced the small things contribute to BIG RESULTS?
Ok, what if you decided to read just 30 minutes each day? At the
end of 365 days you have read 182.75 hours. That's 7-1/2 full
days nonstop 24 hours a day!
The same is true of anything. Save just $1 a day and you'll have
$365 at the end of the year.Christmas money! Clean out one
drawer each day, and at the end of the week you'll have
Spring-cleaned the kitchen. Throw out or box up just ONE THING
you no longer use each day; at the end of the month, you'll have
a nice donation. Eat just 200 calories less each day, and at the
end of the year, you will have eaten 73,000 less calories, an
equivalent of 146 pounds! Write one page of your life story, and
at the end of the year you'll have a novel!
Clean out one closet, pay off one credit card, set up one
system, return one thing borrowed -- it all adds up.
The idea is to think about your life in individual small steps
instead of "outcomes". Begin to look at what you are doing only
TODAY. Begin to imagine your life like a daily planner, and you
can't see the next page. . Does that mean not to plan for
tomorrow? Absolutely not. In fact, just the opposite.
What it means is that what you do today, the small things, each
choice or non-choice, will add up to your tomorrow. A well lived
present will equal a wonderful future. All those small steps are
moving you towards tomorrow, but with your eye right on the road
in front of you.
Paint a little, write a little, sing a little, laugh a little,
save a little, clean a little. Whatever you want more of -- or
less of -- in your life, do a LITTLE today!